Breaking Down the Sixers Strengths and Weaknesses

How good will the Philadelphia 76ers be in 2015-2016? Good, average, terrible? Where lie their strengths and their weaknesses? It may be too early to say, but here is a potential breakdown and possible set of answers to these questions.

First, as to the Sixers’ weaknesses: which may be numerous at the moment. The Sixers are a very young team and the NBA has been proven to be a veteran player and team league. Basketball played at this level requires not just size and skill but execution and experience. The Sixers are still on the journey.

The Sixers also seem to have lost out on the player they most coveted: D’Angelo Russell. This translates into hesitancy and speculation regarding the perimeter and guard positions.

Another area for concern is the Sixers offensive production. Individually, the Sixers need more explosive scorers and collectively they need to continue to build upon the offensive game plan. The Sixers finished second to last in the NBA in scoring as a team. They finished the same in three-point field goals and last in free throw shooting. Furthermore, the Sixers were dead last in field goal percentage. They were the only team to fail to reach at least 70% as a unit in foul shooting.

The Sixers rank at the bottom in attendance and also need to improve in that category. If the Sixers get more fans coming in, they can feed off of that positive reinforcement. As the backcourt picks up the scoring and energizes the crowd with its offense, more fans will attend.

To be clear, many of their weaknesses can be misleading because they are correctable and relate to each other and the process overall. While the team naturally improves each additional category will be improved and fine tuned by the previous one and quickly.

Finally, their youth and inexperience will place them in another fight or flight situation for next season as the growing pains will likely carry on.

Now for the Sixers in terms of strengths. What do we have to look forward to in a team that will not win much more than 20-25 games while failing to make the playoffs by a long shot?

For starters, the Sixers are on their way to receive another great draft choice and proceed further along in rebuilding with the hidden goal of free agent and cash leverage. We know who we have to thank for that. The Sixers also have intriguing talents with nice skill sets: enter Jerami Grant, Robert Covington and Pierre Jackson.

Another obvious strength of the Sixers will be their frontcourt. Not only is it a talented front line with potential, it has good balance and the players complement one another. Nerlens Noel, a near Rookie of the Year, is smooth, defensive minded, and plays with a polished game along with finesse. Jahlil Okafor has a game that is more powerful and offensively oriented. He will, as Noel did, contend for Rookie of the Year.

Perhaps the main source of the Sixers optimism can be from the standpoint of the quality Head Coach Brett Brown. What did he do for the Sixers? He has coached with resolve and made the team much better defensively. The Sixers moved ahead as a team to middle of the NBA pack for points per game allowed and field goal defense. They also were at the very top in steals. Brown’s half court philosophy and system for guarding in the half court has allowed the Sixers to be a real team as the rebuild commences.

Their strides in defensive transition alone has served as the core for a team that competes and is well coached while winning few games. That’s subtle. In all, a very tough balancing act, but Brown gets high marks here to say the very least.

Next: Sixers Waiting For The Light Switch

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